Apologies for a lack of new pieces uploaded to the Journalism Archive in the past three or four weeks: webmeister Uncle Spike has been, like Jeffrey Barnard, ‘unwell’ – though, unlike Jeffrey, he actually has been unwell! Five new pieces are added this weekend: 1990s reviews of product/performances from Link Wray, Richard Thompson, Altan and Chris Smither; and an interview with Steve Tilston.
The Word Magazine blog thread on The Mahavishnu Orchestra, mentioned in the October update, rumbles on and now features a very substantial CH review of the newly released ‘Complete Columbia Albums’ box set, including information on the recording dates for the set’s unreleased live tracks (in short: Sony got it wrong… but the tracks sound great!). The thread also contains a very detailed listing of all the known MO live recordings from non-official sources which are available via the web for download or streaming, in many cases for free. It was good fun pulling all the info together – I’m sure it’s not totally complete, but as it stands it would appear that nearly 20% of the Mk 1 Mahavishnu Orchestra’s 535 concerts (1971-73) survive in some form. Amazing…
Finally, I’ve been persuaded to reconsider Bloomsbury’s e-book suggestion for Dazzling Stranger. It will appear in that form in due course, including a discographical update and the new afterword from Pete Paphides.